The Fallacy Detective

Starting off our home schooling journey, I planned to give my children a classical education, using the trivium. I wanted them to learn, among other things, logic. The problem was, all of the logic books I found were dry as sawdust. My oldest balked at logic lessons because they were simply boring. Several years ago, our adventures into the study of logic were changed forever when we bought our first copy of The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn.

Unlike other logic books we've tried to use, this one is both fun and practical. Instead of making my children study logic, I found myself having to pull this book away from them to get other lessons done! Once, my husband (who doesn't like to read for leisure) couldn't put down The Fallacy Detective, and he took it to work with him. While there, reading it on his lunch break, several of the men he worked with all wanted to read it too. I say this just to reinforce the biggest appeal of this book: The Fallacy Detective draws in the reader, hooks them, and doesn't let go.

But, does it teach logic?

No matter how entertaining a logic book is, it wouldn't be a good logic book if it didn't succeed in teaching logic. Thankfully, The Fallacy Detective does an excellent, long term job at teaching the principles of logic and fallacies.

It's been about six years since we first used The Fallacy Detective, and my daughter still remembers and talks about what we learned. We find this especially useful (and fun) during political debates or when watching commercials. This book does more than entertain and educate; The Fallacy Detective arms young people (and adults) with the tools they need to recognize and combat fallacies of logic that are thrown at us every dayy in our modern world.

Because the Bluedorns are coming out with the new 3rd Edition, I have just 40 copies of the 2nd Edition of the Fallacy Detective available for you to purchase for just $15.00. These normally retail for $22.00, and are worth every penny! Get your copy soon, because when they are gone, they're gone for good!

From the www.TriviumPursuit.com website:

Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn wrote this book to meet the needs of Christian parents who want a do-able text for introducing logic and critical thinking to their children.

• Fun to use – not dry like a math textbook.
• Self-teaching – not intimidating, starts students with skills they can use right away.
• Each lesson has exercises for students, with an answer key at the back.
• Covers logical fallacies and propaganda techniques. We divided the most common fallacies and propaganda techniques into thirty-eight lessons. We explain how you can spot fallacies, and we give exercises to stretch your abilities for detecting fallacies.
• Geared for ages twelve and older – we suggest using The Fallacy Detective before advancing onto more difficult logic programs.
• Includes The Fallacy Detective Game, giving you and your friends an entertaining way to spot and make up your own examples of fallacies.
• Christian view of logic. Many critical thinking texts introduce political correctness. This book does not.
• Can be used before or after The Thinking Toolbox
• Cartoons to illustrate the logical fallacies discussed, including Peanuts, Dilbert, Calvin and Hobbes, and several original cartoons

This book is for fallacy detectives. We've designed this book to be a handy-dandy text for learning to spot the errors in thinking that you meet everyday on the street, in the newspaper, or on television – or errors you make yourself.